By Jacob Kudzayi Mutisi

In today’s Zimbabwe, the average citizen has become like a broiler chicken born into a system designed to extract maximum output with minimum care, until death.

From cradle to grave, the Zimbabwean is burdened by a state that behaves more like a ruthless commercial farmer than a nurturing guardian.

Like broilers raised for profit, Zimbabweans are born into a life of managed expectations. Education, once a tool for empowerment, has become an expensive exercise with diminishing returns.

As soon as one begins to earn, the taxman swoops in PAYE, VAT, ZIMRA levies, toll fees, license renewals, and informal taxes from councils and the ever-hungry parastatals. There is no reprieve, no reward only a growing list of dues.

Pension funds are looted. Medical aid is a luxury. Public healthcare is in ruins. Savings are eroded by inflation and investing locally is like playing Russian roulette with your future.

Still, citizens must continue to produce, to feed the political and economic machinery that never seems to care about their welfare.

Like a broiler with rapid weight gain but brittle bones, the Zimbabwean appears to be surviving, driven by resilience, entrepreneurship and faith.

But inside, he is breaking. Emotionally. Financially. Spiritually. He is expected to keep producing despite no proper infrastructure, no reliable transport and no functioning systems.

By the time he retires, if he lives that long, the Zimbabwean has nothing to show for decades of hard work. No pension. No savings. Just debts, poor health and a nation that quickly forgets its labourers.

Zimbabwe must break this toxic cycle. We are not chickens to be bred and bled dry. We are citizens who deserve dignity, fair governance and a future not measured by how much tax we paid but by how well we lived.

Ndini zvangu just thinking!!!

Engineer Jacob Kudzayi Mutisi writes in his own personal capacity. The views expressed in this article are entirely his own. He can be contacted on +263772278161